Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Puro Fairtrade Coffee

Earlier this summer, I was sent some coffee to try. Puro Fairtrade Coffee (created in 2005) is a brand of coffee from Miko, who have been roasting coffee for over 200 years in Belgium. Puro has always sourced Fairtrade, organic, and shade grown coffee. The company has a strong ethos in every area of their product, from ethical and environmental awareness to buying and protecting rainforests. They actively work alongside the World Land Trust, whose patron is Sir David Attenborough, and for every cup of coffee sold, money is given to buy and protect areas of rainforest in South America.

You can't buy the coffee in supermarkets (although you can buy it on-line here), you might have enjoyed a cup if you visited a National Trust site (they all use Puro) and restaurants using the coffee include Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Leon, and The Real Greek. Also, large offices such as Innocent Drinks (the smoothie company), opticians chain Vision Express and golf clubs like Wentworth all serve Puro coffee.

Take a look at this short video clip, coming from the heart of the South American rainforests about ongoing projects that Puro are really proud of, or watch online at www.vimeo.com/fairtradecoffee/our-story.

I tried three of their coffees, all of which were strongly roasted and of excellent quality. Whilst the grind is particularly designed for cafetiere or other filter coffee, it can also be used in other coffee machines, including espresso machines (the darkest Puro Fuerte coffee was my favourite for this, below). The three coffees all tasted really different and it really is only a matter of personal preference as to which one is best. In my house the slightly darker roasts were our favourites (particularly for a lovely Saturday morning coffee!) but we enjoyed all three.

A couple of really interesting things I learned about Puro:
In 2007, whilst trekking within the Puro Ecuador Rainforest Reserve, a representative from Puro, together with Lou Jost, a world-renowned botanist, discovered a new tree species. This tree was later named Blakea attenboroughii after Sir David Attenborough (a patron of WLT) in celebration of his lifetime effort in matters relating to land and wildlife conservation.
A series of other discoveries have since been made, and several new orchid and a frog species – all previously unknown to science – have been recorded within the Puro reserve. One of these orchids has been officially named Teagueia puroana in honour of Puro. Lou Jost has stated that the Teagueia puroana orchid is a member of one of the most remarkable plant radiations in the world, and that the Puro reserve is proving to be a real treasure-trove of biodiversity.